when your body touched mine

it’s like the romantic stories back in time

like the story of Romeo and Juliet

the love they felt wasn’t pretend

when it hit dawn

i didn’t know from my rights to wrongs

what felt like minutes turned into hours

my thoughts became louder and louder

is this real

am I playing in a deal

would I be able to play the hearts

or does the joker want to play with darts

w...

I stepped onto the beach, and looked around. It seemed to be abandoned, the small secluded island stood in the sea, the waves of high tide slowly coming higher on the beach. The waves lapping at my heels. I take a breath and look up on the peak. The sanctuary looking like it’s starting to fall apart. I need to climb higher, most of this island will be submerged when high tide is in. And as my ride...

“We’ve got one shot,” Ryder said quietly, putting a hand on each of my shoulders as he gazed intently into my eyes, “that tide goes out and we go with it. If we miss it…..”

I swallowed painfully when he didn’t finish. I knew what would happen if we didn’t make it. We’d be trapped here forever; the portal would close.

For what felt like the thousandth time, I wished with all my heart that I’d ch...

My bare feet pound against the forbidden island that my mother warned me to stay away from. I didn’t listen. It was so enticing. The dense forest of palm trees and green swayed in the distance of the mainland’s coast. The land bridge between me and mystery was so short. All I had to do was walk across.

And I, being the idiot I am, did.

Palms and bushes slap against my skin and face as I push past...

Elspeth watched from the clifftop as the waves rolled in, devouring the last strip of bridge that connected the island to the mainland. Her heart plummeted, and her skin prickled with fear as her last chance of escape disappeared with the tide.

Grey clouds rolled in, darkening the land around her, and gulls tumbled through the air, soaring low over the water. They taunted Elspeth with their fre...

Fifteen years as a beat cop in Minnesota had helped prepare Tony O’Malley for days like these. He pulled the collar of his old sheepskin coat further up around his ears and hunched his heavyset shoulders against the biting wind whistling across the sound before him. He sat back against the hood of the old Buick, muscle memory instinctively patting at his chest pockets for a packet of cigarettes lo...

“Everything is fine…Just a simple wreak…”

Vivian was hesitant to keep speaking about the incident. No survivors other than herself with the radio system out.

“If I’m able to survive at least a week I can make it out! Just need to remember how to do things. Scavenge and Search for high ground.”

The more she would move the more her body would say enough. The blistering hot sun. The lack of wind. ...

“Ok, y'all ready?” I asked the group of nine longhaired, sunburned men in front of me.

They all had backpacks filled to the brim and their arms full of gear. I keep telling people to pack light, but they never listen.

“On my count, we run. You can’t stop, or even hesitate. One moment's pause and you won’t make it. If you’re a step too slow, you die. And no one will come back for you. It’s every...

Mila stood tentatively in the crowd, staring toward the water along with everyone else. The moon’s light reflected across the deep blue, glinting silver laced in the churning waves. A low hum filled the air, anxious voices chatting among each other. We knew not to express our impatience, for that would anger the spirits.

The day before every solstice, our island’s folks would hold a ceremon...

Purple ray was a chubby Polynesian who frequently visited our tourist bar, he loved wearing purple for some reason. He was a lot of fun, he would drink a little then store up on goods and then go back to his unique island. He would tell us stories of his time there, and how he gets lonely. But he still didn’t meet the girl that’s right for him, he tries every few months to come and meet the perfec...